The invention relates to magnetic water conditioners and more particularly to water conditioners that utilize permanent magnets for the generation of the magnetic fields.
It is known that the magnetic treatment of calcarious waters which deposit scales or encrustations on heat exchange and conduit surfaces serves to minimize the scale forming problems associated with the handling of such waters. It is also known that such treated waters also exhibit tendencies to remove previously deposited scales from surfaces encountered by the untreated waters.
The mechanisms involved in such magnetic treatments are the subject of much speculation and various theories have been advanced to provide a semblance of accountability for the benefits derived. Among the theories are those which advance the thought process that the encrustation forming components of the calcarious waters are polarized and that the treatment with the magnetic flux field so increases the mobility of the components that they are neutralized through encounter with oppositely charged water components or through electron exchange upon encountering the conduit surfaces. Other theories seemingly recognize an induced polarization effect that contributes to some type of galvanic action or the formation of non-encrustating molecular complexes.
The applicant is uncertain as to which, if any, of the advocated mechanisms is correct for it appears that there is no known reliable quantitative procedure which is available to prove or disprove the mechanisms much less to provide a semblance of predictability as to the benefits that will be attained by any particular design of magnetic water conditioner.
There is a current trend toward the modification of air cooled refrigeration systems such as encountered in home air conditioning units, so as to utilize evaporative cooling principles. This trend, of course, is occasioned by the current energy crisis. The modifications basically amount to providing attachments which serve to direct a spray of water onto the condenser coils or comparable heat exchange surfaces of the unit. The amounts of water utilized must, from necessity, be relatively small in comparison to those used in more sophisticated refrigeration systems that utilize the evaporative cooling principles for such systems are usually designed for the recycled use of the water coolant. On the other hand, conventional air cooled refrigeration units are incapable of using recycled coolant principles without expensive modifications and any excess water used for evaporative cooling purposes must either be passed to a drain system or, alternatively, permitted to dissipate through ground absorption in the immediate vicinity of the refrigeration unit.
With the small amounts of water utilized for evaporative cooling purposes, the water flow over the condenser coils of air cooled refrigeration units is, of course, minimal. As a result, there is an ideal condition presented for the formation of scales and encrustations unless the water is pretreated to either remove or modify the encrustation forming factors or components of the source water utilized.
Throughout the United States, the waters which are available for evaporative cooling purposes vary greatly in composition and character, and while the magnetic treatments of waters appear to minimize the scale forming problems, the current water conditioners available for such purposes are expensive and are so designed as to be incapable of evaluation in the treatment of different waters except at the design flow capacity of the conditioner. Thus, at the low flow requirements for conditioners used in modifying air cooled refrigeration units, the conditioners often have a capacity much exceeding that required for the water being treated. The fixed design of the unit, in the absence of quantitative means for predicting the results of design modifications, makes it virtually economically impossible to re-design for the less demanding capacities because of the empirical nature of the evaluation tests that must be run on each water to be encountered.
The prior art having to do with water conditioners utilizing permanent magnets advocates the use of everything from simple elongated bar magnets which are polarized along their longitudinal axes, to cylindrical discs that are polarized along their diameters. In some instances, elongated bar magnets that are polarized along their diameters have been advocated, and the facial polarization of disc type magnets along their axes of symmetry has also been advocated. Apart from the various different types of permanently magnetized structures and the various arrangements that have been advocated for water conditioners, the prior art also seems to advocate everything from flow parallel to the polar axes of the magnets to flow which is perpendicular to the polar axes, and various complicated and expensive structural arrangements have been advocated to provide the flow path seemingly desired. These prior art arrangements for providing the seemingly desired flow paths relative to the flux fields are not only expensive to incorporate in commercial designs for water conditioners, but they lead to a practical inability to economically effectuate design modifications for varying capacity conditions.
There is a need accordingly, for water conditioning units which are effective for their intended purpose and which are simple in design and economical to manufacture. There is also a need to provide a basic design for a water conditioning unit and which is subject to ready variance in its application of the flux fields to the water being treated so as to enable establishment of the best operating design parameters for the unit under any one set of water treatment operating conditions.